Messy March!

I have decided that the month of March is going to be MESSY!   Yes, Mae is old enough now to get dirty right along with her brother and she's doing better to not automatically put everything in her mouth, so we're entering a time where we can expand our messy activities.  Throughout the month I'll be posting some of our fun activities that involve a MESS!    Things that you should equip yourself with for messy play:  a splat mat (or a shower curtain works too!), a dustbuster (I love ours, does have some drawbacks, but for our purposes its great!) and a lot of patience!!!!  Ready, set, go!

In preparation for the kick off messy month, on Monday afternoon I broke out the mat and gathered some supplies and let the kids go wild with dry oatmeal.  Let me just say I was shocked at the staying power of oatmeal.   My thirteen month old baby girl not only stayed on the 48"x48" island I had provided her but she stayed fully engaged and playing for a solid 20 minutes.  It was amazing. 

Mae had a such fun picking it up, making it fall, pushing it around, and after observing her brother she even had fun filling bowls.   Ace was very kind in allowing her to repeatedly steal a bowl or cup that he had just filled so that she could dump it all over herself.  :)

 Ace played for over an hour!  Making muffins, pizzas, and various other things.  Sifting, measuring, funneling.  Lots of fun imaginative dusty play.  I finally said it was time to clean up so that I could start dinner.  There was a saddened protest, but an excited anticipation for a future opportunity.

It was a lot of fun to play with them and also to sit back and observe their own fun.  To see them play together and how to share (or not)  and to just be kids that made a mess!